


Peculiarity #297 The Cursed Violin

by OrangyGinger



Category: The Peculiar Compendium Of Victor Van Wolfe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 14:08:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29455038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrangyGinger/pseuds/OrangyGinger
Summary: This is a fanfiction competition entry for The Peculiar Compendium Of Victor Van Wolfe on Webtoon!





	Peculiarity #297 The Cursed Violin

**Author's Note:**

> So, welcome! Since I only started this yesterday, I'm quite proud of what I've written, it is no way a full story, if I had more time and a bigger word count I would happily finish this, I might even just do that in my spare time! Welp! On with the story! Please enjoy!
> 
> If you've found this randomly, please go read The Peculiar Compendium Of Victor Van Wolfe on Webtoon because it is absolutely amazing! 
> 
> This was meant to go slightly different in terms of a meeting between two characters, but, time restraints 😂🤷 anyways it 4:30am where I am right now so please take my offering 😂

"speech" 

_'mind speech'_

The Peculiar Compendium Of Victor Van Wolfe

Peculiarity #297: The Cursed Violin

A violin, acquired from a small music shop located in a small town in Brisbois. A supposedly 'cursed' violin, of unknown origin, that intends its owner a certain deadly harm. The curse manifests in a number of ways all of which have ended in death for the previous owners.

Now, you're probably asking yourself, "How did he come across this item? And how is he supposed to survive this curse?"

Well dear readers, that is what I am about to explain, you see this item and its history is not what others would have you think. And so, here I am to reveal the truth behind the Cursed Violin.

Class: Rare  
Danger: ~~incredibly dangerous~~ safe  
Location: Brisbois, Arabesquia

  
For this story we begin with a broken string.   
After a particular show my precious violin had suffered a heavy blow by one of her strings snapping, and of course due to a tremendous but of bad luck, I couldn't fix it this time, so it led me to needing a repair shop for her. Contrary to the bad luck, I had some good luck as I passed through a town and inquired about a place to get my poor violin fixed.  
Well, at that point I called it good luck, by that same point the next day I would be rethinking that conclusion.  
After chatting with a good looking group of folks they directed me to a small music shop that they believed would help me get a new string.  
A small side street led me to the outside of a shop named 'Music for the Soul' it was quaint, windows decorated with a variety of musical instruments, a warm glow shine from inside.  
Now at this point I feel like I should describe the day, for it will be important later on. It was a bright day, the sun shine high in the sky while birds and other winged creatures flit back and forth across the cloudless sky. Nothing suggested a weather change to disturb this peace that the town had with the spotless summer day. The leaning buildings of this town created shadows where rodents and the likes hid themselves from the blistering heat of the day, skittering between rubbish piles and pipes.  
Chimes rang out as I entered the shop, case in hand. It was silent in the shop, but rummaging sounded from the back begins the counter before a young woman entered through a back door.  
"Welcome! Hello!" she called to me as she placed a box down. "How can I help you?"  
I chuckled as I leant on the counter, opening up the case and showing the broken violin. "Ah, you see my poor violin has had a bit of a mishap and is in need of a bit of fixing," I smirked as I looked at the woman, "Thankfully a lovely group pointed me in this direction, so here I am!" I chuckled with a shrug as I handed over my violin.  
"Oh my!" the woman exclaimed, "This is a beautifully crafted violin, and might i say a rather famous one, given who it belongs to!" she smirked at me.  
I chucked again, "Ah, so you know who I am."  
"Of course Mr Van Wolfe, its not every day you hear chatter of a certain writer making his way through our town, especially with that terrifying beast of yours!" she eyed me as she put in glasses to get a clearer look at the damage of my violin.  
I frowned at that, "I'm afraid I must correct you! My Hortensia is trained and wonderfully well mannered, while she may seem terrifying, she is certainly no common beast!"  
Pausing for a moment, the woman apologised, "Terribly sorry Mr Van Wolfe, I meant no disrespect." she resumed her work as I calmed the look on my face back into a more natural flirty one.  
"Ah, since you know my name, it would be polite to ask of yours?" I slyly asked. "Especially since I will be paying to fix my precious violin!"  
Smiling the woman responded, "Of course Mr Van Wolfe, my name is Ethel Hombrage" handing my violin back to me to put back in my case, she took her glasses off. "It will be a very simple fix sir, I can have that done in merely a couple of hours, mostly just for the glue to dry as the string snapping has cause a slight fracture on the bracket of one of the tuning pegs."  
I nodded as I handed my case off to her, "Very well Miss Ethel, that will be ideal, I will return in two hours with payment! And please call me Branch, calling me sir and all that makes me feel old!" I winked at her.  
This time it was her who chuckled, "Very well Branch, then you may call me Ethel, I will see you in two hours." I kissed her hand before walking away, leaving my violin in her care.  
I must admit, the next two hours are that important, I kept myself busy; had some food, met with the locals, flirted with the locals, you know the usual, all in all, it had ended up a good day, and finally it was time to return for my violin.  
Heavy rain clouds started to set in as I walked towards 'Music for the Soul' blotting out what was a happy sunny day, turning it into a dismal, tumultuous, stormy sky. Fat raindrops fell from the sky, splatting onto the dry earth quickly turning it into a wet sludgy mess as I turned down the street towards the shop. I suppose this turn in the weather should have really warned me about what was about to happen, but, me, distracted by the thought of my hopefully now fixed violin, ignored the warning of the weather. Finally, a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning happened as I entered the store, before shutting out the raging weather with the peacefulness of the inside of the shop.  
Ethel appeared once more behind the counter, spying me she smiled, "Mr Van Wo- Ah! I mean Branch, glad to see you back! Your violin is fixed, I will go get it!" she busied herself with moving back towards a door, "Please take a look around while you wait!"  
So I did, I wandered over to the display of violins, all of them were very basic designs, apart from one. It was wonderfully ornate, gold filigree wound its way across the surface in curling ferns, however, it wasn't the beauty of it that caught my eye, it was the big sign that stood by it. In big red letter it read, 'WARNING! THIS VIOLIN IS CURSED.'

Now, that sign should have definitely warned me away from this, but then again I study the peculiar, so of course it just drew me in further.

A voice startled me out of my thoughts.  
"Here we go Branch! All fixed for you!" her voice paused as she seemingly caught sight of what I was staring at. "Ah, I see you've caught sight of that thing." her voice and face twisted as she spat out her words.  
"Might I ask why it is cursed?" her reaction only served to draw me further into this mystery.  
She sighed, placing my violin on the counter, "Of all the people that I know have owned it, all of them have died sudden gruesome deaths, most recently was my wife, she started rambling about some other girl with the violin, then next thing I know, she's crumbled under a carriage, trampled by the horses." Ethels blank way of talking barely hid the pain shown in her face.  
"I'm sorry for your loss," I murmured, "Are you trying to sell it to get rid of it?"  
"Since I became a widow, the ownership of the violin has fallen to me," her frown spoke of a lot, "I just want rid of it, whether it takes me first or not, I want it gone, but I can't just hand it off to someone or lose it, the person who takes it has to accept it, fully knowing there's a curse attached to it."  
Well dear reader, if there's one thing you know about me, it the fact I never turn down a challenge, so of course I replied, "I'll take it off your hands."  
Ethel balked and glanced at me, startled. "Are you sure?" she hesitantly asked, "I know you're a famous explorer and adventurer who deals with this sort of stuff, but you must understand, people have tried to break it, but have fallen to the curse." she was firm in her words, looking sternly into my eyes.  
Nodding, I looked determinedly back into her eyes, "I understand Ethel, how much do I owe you for fixing my violin, and how much to take that one off your hands?"

She shook her head as she told me the price of fixing my violin, but simply handed me the cursed violin, "You can have the cursed thing, you accepted what consequences it entails, so it's now yours." Ethel then turned, seemingly dismissing me, and so I took my leave.  
Outside the shop, it was quiet, only the darkness of the clouded sky told of the storm that had passed. Since it was getting late, I decided to find an Inn to stay at for the night. It was easy finding one, and afterm regaling fellow patrons with my tales, I retired for the night, pushing the thoughts of the violin from my mind.  
The morning sun woke me, and within the hour I had set off from the town.  
Now dear readers, I mentioned how I would rethink my good luck, well, this is how it happens.  
After traveling down a quiet path, I hadn't passed anyone for the past few hours, but soon faint music was heard on the wind, it was a sad, somber song, telling of heartache and betrayal. Without realising it, I had left Hortensia on the path and had walked into the woods. The music echoed around me, drawing me further on. Nothing was in my head apart from the music, the violin music, I needed to follow the music. All my thoughts were on the music until a female voice shouted out, and a weight slammed into me, knocking me back off my feet.  
There was no music, only the sounds of the forrest and the crashing waves far below the cliff. I was on a cliff, mere feet from the edge, with a body kneeling next to me, looking frantically over me, hands hovering.  
"Oh gosh, please don't be dead!" the woman muttered, babbling her own words. "They can't take you that fast!"  
As I looked at her, she finally caught the fact that my eyes were open, studying her. Surprise showed on her face as she visibly relaxed with a sigh "Oh thank the heavens, you're okay!"  
Sitting up, I continued looking at her, red hair, half pinned back, fell in curls down her back, pale skin flushed with nervousness, freckles showing, brown eyes meeting my own. She was dressed plainly in a dark orange skirt and white shirt. The Cursed Violin case sat beside her.   
"I really thought I'd accidently killed you while trying to save you there!" she laughed nervously, running a hand through her hair.  
"It'll take a lot more than being knocked down by a gorgeous thing like you to kill me." I also laughed.  
She grimaced at me, "Well, you nearly took a dive of the cliff, I highly doubt you would have survived that." her voice was deadpan.  
I frowned looking over the edge we were near, "Now why would I do that?" I was confused, why was I here? When had I left the road? "What happened to the music?"  
She frowned, looking off to the side and biting her lip. "The music...... Its part of the curse....... Same with how you were about to just throw yourself off the cliff." the woman meekly met my eyes, sorrow showing in every inch of her expression.  
"The curse?" I pondered, ah, the cursed violin, but how did she know about it? The confusion and questions must have showed on my face as she sighed and stood, motioning me to follow, so I stood myself and followed her back into the forrest.  
"You want to know how I know about the curse right?" she questioned, "Well, I'm the embodiment of the cursed violin, not the curse itself, but the being that is trying to stop it, I am the violin, the violin is me."  
I stopped, no questions answered, and more being formed. She looked back to see me stopped, looking down at the ground and tensing up. "I'm sorry you have gotten caught up in this, the curse was never meant to be passed on, all those peoples deaths are my fault, curse or not."  
Now dead readers, this woman, an embodiment of the violin spent the next long while explaining to me the curse and answering my questions, it would be too much to write out, so I'll paraphrase.  
The violin was made by a man called Johann Von Schwerts, it was his prized possession, he treasured it above all, including his own wife. In a fit of jealousy the wife visited a witch who placed a curse on the violin, a curse that would ruin the owner of the violin. It soon had taken affect on Johann, however he died by choking on stage in the middle of a performance, and the violin fell into possession of the wife. She tried to have it destroyed but it was never even scratched and before long, the wife burned alive in her own home, while the violin remained pristine. The violin passed from person to person, each falling to their own untimely deaths until it landed in the hands of another witch. She tried to remove the curse but nothing seemed to work, so she created a counter curse, by taking all the love that Johann had for the violin and condensing it into the woman before me, who was tasked with trying to help the owners of the violin survive the curse. But still no matter who the violin was passed onto, the curse kept taking ahold, overpowering the counter curse until here we were.  
I sat down after listening to all this information. It was a lot.  
"So," I began, "Do you have a name?"  
Her eyes widened, as she stuttered, "Ah - y - yes! People call me Symphony, or Sym for short."  
I held out my hand, "Nice to meet you Sym, you can call me Branch!" Sym placed her hand in mine and I kissed it in greeting. "You can stop worrying as much now, cause you're going to protect me from this curse, and then I'm going to break it, believe me!"  
Sym smiled sadly, "I'll believe you when that actually happens, but I wish you luck."  
Sym explained that the music that I heard was the curse trying to take hold, you hear the music and then you either do something to cause your death or do nothing and just let your death take you. However she can snap the person out of the trance, but sometimes it doesn't work, of course leading inevitably to their death.  
I sighed, "So, any ideas on how to break the curse?"  
Nodding and smiling, Sym spoke, "Oh! Yes I do know how to break it! We need to go see a witch, the extra spell for the counter curse should be finished by now! All we have to do is make you survive until then!"  
I paused, "Its that simple?"  
"Oh," she laughed, "Yes, you see the witch that created me started a secondary counter curse, however, it would take years before it would be finished, luckily, her descendents carried it on, and it should be competed by next week!"  
"So I just have to get you to this witch by next week, without succumbing to the curse myself and it will be broken?" I shook my head in disbelief, "That's oddly convenient."  
She shrugged, "That it is! So.... We need to head East, towards the border, there's a little hamlet there, that's where we will find the witch!"  
Nodding, I stood and stretched, "Alright then, let's go, I hope Hortensia has been okay while I've been gone."  
Sym followed behind, "Hortensia?" she asked.  
"My Griffin," I explained, "She's very well trained, an absolute delight!"  
There was a short silence, "I've never seen a Griffin."  
I gasped as I turned to Sym, "Well you're in for a treat! She's a gorgeous animal, simply fantastic, I'm sure she'll love you as well!"  
We soon arrived back at the road, Hortensia was sitting there waiting for me. I gasped and ran to her cooing over her as she gazed at me contemptuously.  
"She's certainly magnificent!" Sym spoke as she approached. I introduced them to each other, Hortensia not showing much emotion other than vague disinterest, while Sym fawned over her.  
I glanced at Hortensias back. It would be hard for two people to ride her with all the bags that I had. "Hmm it seems we will either have to walk or drop a few bags or we both won't fit on her."  
Sym perked up at that, "Oh that's an easy fix," she handed me the violin case, "Here, just attach this to the saddle, I can just go back into the violin while you ride, I'll still be able to speak to you as you go."  
I silently grabbed the case and just as she finished speaking she vanished. I sighed, not the strangest thing I'd seen.  
_'Oh? Not the strangest?'_

I must admit dear reader, that shocked me more than anything, hearing a voice that isn't your own respond to you in your head.  
_'Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.'_  
It was fine of course, nothing healthier than a bit of a shock to help you along the way.  
_'If you say so......'_ she trailed off as she started to direct me on where to go.  
And thus began the journey to survive long enough to be able to break the curse placed upon Symphonys violin. 


End file.
